Secret Blog for Killing Track and Parkrun PBs

AIS track booked until 430pm and blowing a gale, Steve and I opted for a quiet 800m road loop outside Bruce Stadium. The loop/square was four sided including an up and down (same up we used for the strides), two flats (one into a gale). The set: long warm up, 4 x 100m hill strides, efforts of 2000m, 1500m, 800m, 800m with short recovery (2min approx reducing to 30 seconds). Pace was just under or just over maximum threshold. In Bega Keith did 5 x 800m on paddock (2:41, 2:45, 2:46, 2:53, 2:49). On Sunday I head up to Goulburn for a 10km fun run. Not a course to get a time on, it has a monster hill climb at half-way (Rocky Hill). There is some money on offer which means there should be some tough competition. I did do the fun run twice more than a decade ago. Same big hill I know well, 20% gradient in places, but is an out and back now, not a loop. That means Saturday session will be light and on track, most likely 5 x 300m intervals with 100m jog recovery or a 2000m tempo depending o...

For most of the year I've been avoiding the steeper hills in the Arboretum long runs due to the sore achilles. Now with it almost perfect again I went back to my old circuit...until I saw a magpie. I ran in the opposite direction up to the visitor centre and back down. Another 5km this afternoon will round off this Canberran long weekend.

Today the handicap a King or Queen of the Mountain event. The course among the toughest we use in races and have often used in training. An out and back course on mostly a rocky fire trail with quite a few technical corners and some very tough hills. It is basically down for 1.5km, up for 500m to the dead turn, down for 500m and up to the finish. Very warm and sunny, into a slight breeze over the last 1.5km. Once again I ran flat out with nothing left in the tank. The first and last kilometre splits (3:19, 3:28) were equal to my fastest ever recorded on the course. The middle 2km was slower, either due to people traffic or a slightly different turn point in 2012. I felt like I was moving well the whole way. At 14:08 it was 5 seconds quicker than last year. KT and Maria won silver on the short and long courses. King and Queen of the Mountain still up for grabs. Looks like M85 Merv has almost sealed the Frylink. My AST today 92.7% but I missed the July race so not eligible. This after...

Steve and I at the AIS track. The girls in the bush tracks. Keith in the Bermagui Fun Run...a busy day. Steve and I after long warm up, 4 x 100m, 200m 34, 5 x 1000m with 600m recovery, long warm down punctuated by coffee. We had Garry the rabbit for company and chats. Jane was on mtb doing intervals. The splits: Steve: 3:19, 3:18, 3:18, 3:16, 3:12. Steve had his watch set on 20 sec/100m or 3:20/km. Me: 3:04, 3:07, 3:07, 3:07, 3:06. I had my watch set on 19 sec/100m or 3:10/km. Most important was to find a rhythm of the track, refine some technique, stay relaxed and treat as a 5000m race, not a 1000m effort. For both of us it was very good. I should have no trouble running sub-9:30 first up in similar conditions and Steve sub-10:00. All the training on the grass has been beneficial. I wish we were still there at Stromlo but I can't afford to lose any more blood to that magpie:-) The girls and Roger on the bush tracks did 5 x 3 minutes with 30 seconds recovery. ACT Masters handic...

First time back at the AIS track for a while. It was cold and windy. After a long warm up out in the bush and some strides Steve and I did another glue session. If the weather was better it would have been a harder set. Instead we will try that on Saturday morning in better weather. To enable us to do a good set on Saturday we were limited to 3000m today (recovery time at 1500m per day). I just ran by feel at maximum threshold but with better technique than the grass and no hills it felt very easy. My splits: 79,79,19,33 (float recovery 100m),78,79,19,38 (float recovery 100m),79,40,77=10:24 3000m gross,9:51 net. Steve 10:34 gross, 10:01 net. Keith in Bega ran 3 x 800m in 2:45. Keith does a Fun Run in Bermagui on the weekend of 5.5km. Good luck Keith.

A slight change to the Tuesday 5km glue session. Still 5km, ran 4 x 900m + 1 x 1000m with 100m jog in 30 second recovery between efforts. Also front loaded the efforts with more speed to make it a true lactate session with each effort slower than previous as the lactate grew. The circuit up 400m, down 200m, 300m flat. My 900m splits: 2:52, 2:55, 2:59, 3:02, 3:04. Total time: 17:15 including recovery, 16:31 5000m pace, roughly 15:41 pace on track. Steve was 18:00, 17:15 pace, roughly 16:25 pace on track and also front loaded the efforts with speed and lactate. Looks like the magpies are upset with missing the AFL finals, needing some September action decided to take it out on Steve and my left ear and cheek. That's after I cleaned all the blood off! Needless to say we will go elsewhere until the magpie calms down. Keith in Bega did 1000m, 970m and 950m with 30 seconds jog recovery all in 3:30. It was hot with a strong breeze.

Normal Sunday long recovery run in the Arboretum and a finale up Mount Painter and back, all up 98 minutes. An easy afternoon jog will take it to 24km for the day, only 100km for the week due to missing a day due to groin strain pushing hard up a hill into a gale on Thursday. With only weeks away until track racing begins for us strides and lactate work will slowly be reinforced without sacrificing the hard sessions that got us all to here with a big base to work from. I will have a few play races in October and early November. Then there will be 3-5 races where I go all out and try to improve my times for 2014, especially in 3000m, 5000m and 10000m. There is a 10000m in Canberra day before City2Sea 14km in Melbourne. I will have to miss that. Other options are Zatopek lower grades 10000m in Melbourne or going all out for 10000m in the one hour and getting a split time. The magpie has been nasty again at Stromlo. We might have to visit AIS for some training if the dive bombing athlet...

12:40 for me on leg 3. Waverley took time out of us on every leg. Robert Schwerkolt ran 12:36 for us on leg 1, Antony Rickards on leg 2 was 12:59 12:40 is in between the 12:34 of 2012 and 12:44 of 2013. Only 10 seconds covering 3 years so once again consistent. At just under 3:20/km a solid effort. To put into perspective I have run 11:23 on the circuit at age 30 (I ran 15:00 5000m and 30:54 10000m on track two months later). James who finished just behind me that day is struggling as an M40s and did 12:54 today 2nd leg for our rival team. In M50 John Meagher ran 12:28. I'd need to run a 1st leg to know how I compare to that but I know I'd be chasing and not leading. I had one M40 Craig Semple come flying past me up the nasty Anderson Street hill. His 11:41 time very impressive on a sandy track with a big hill. Fastest time I saw was Jeff Risley 10:44 on the faster 1st leg, Dave McNeill 10:51 might have had some traffic in leg 2, just as impressive. I didn't mention to ...

Very windy at Stromlo. Through 1000m in 3:08, hit a wall coming home into a gale. Steve wasn't far behind. The Maggie tried to hit us both on the warm down. In Bega Keith was a consistent 3:30 / km for his 5km hitout.

Great joy this morning, my favourite airline announced mega-specials on the internet. I have been checking daily. Minnie and I discussed last night by coincidence. The unbelievable fares give us the cheapest two person return fares to Europe ever, the seats we wanted, the flights I had wanted. All the hotels I have booked, no need to change a thing. So that is done and another box ticked. Three months before travel we can book TGV fast train between Paris, Annecy, Lyon, Saint Malo and Paris. Not much more to do. On the WMAC Lyon home page is a link to entrants and stated seed times. Quite a few entries and some from Australia. I won't take much notice of the start lists. There will be some better than me I know. All I can do is my training process, keep ticking boxes and get there in good shape. As it is I am aerobically ready (and it is still 11 months away). Of course I can improve from here over the next months but really if the championships were tomorrow I would do fine.

Steve and I at Stromlo this afternoon a repeat of three weeks ago with 5000m on the 2500m loop, running 3 x 3:30 efforts with 100m jog recovery in 30 seconds and leave us with a longer effort to finish off. Three weeks ago the Stromlo XC circuit was filled with water on the inside lines which we couldn't take. Today it was dry and windy. Overall result: 17:12 (16:42 net,roughly 15:52 for 5000m on track), 17:55 (17:25 net, roughly 16:35 for 5000m on track). We'll get to verify this in a month or so when we race a 5000m on track. Steve had an easier week post-Canberra Times FR. In Bega Keith did his 800m efforts and had some trouble with the 100m posts and distances he was using. I won't state the times as he is going to accurately measure the posts again. Regardless of the posts he was quick, in the high 2:30s. Of me: 120km in the last 7 days, another season best session, a little tired but I have been very strong for the last few weeks. Will ease off a little towards the...

Out through the Arboretum, the usual out 45 minutes (wherever that takes me) and back the same way. So 90 minutes this morning and a loosener this afternoon with Bella to make 24km for the day. Looking ahead to Saturday and the AthsVic Tan Relays 3.8km with me a normal Tuesday session of some long intervals with short recovery. Thursday will be a tempo 2000m to make sure I am sharp for the weekend. Both sets at Stromlo. Not much running on Friday.

This morning at Stromlo the set done on my own. 2000m 6:39, 1500m 4:55, 1200m 3:57, 800m 2:33, 400m 70. Not as fast as a few weeks ago but still near my best sets all-time at the venue. I was fatigued from the volume yesterday as well as the lactate efforts. I had the watch set on 19s (3:10/km) from the start of each effort and held for as long as I could. The hills and tight bends were largely responsible for the drop-offs mid-interval. When the girls arrived I paced 5000m continuous, 7 intervals of varying length with 100m in 52 seconds recovery. Maria and Helen managed 23:45 at 21:30 5000m pace approx. That's pretty good going for XC. The girls can run 20 low on track and a good day. A few more weeks like this will get them fired up. Keith did his Thursday set on Saturday. Another good set for Keith at faster than 3:20/km. Steve and Jane have had a weekend away. The training Jane did looks very tasty. This morning Jane 2 x 1km 4:15, 4:30 (sore foot). Steve 4 x 1km 3:25, 3:23,...

The first lactate session of this direct preparation for track block. A continuous 4km at below 5000m pace (using beeping watch all 100m posts), intervals of 200m-600m with 38 seconds recovery (100m). The set: 2000m warm up, 4 x 100m, 4km (600m on, 100m off, 200m on 100m off)x 3 ; (600m on, 100m off, 300m on to finish). All intervals done at 19 seconds/100m or 76 second laps. A similar set on track would equate to 72 second laps approx. Next set will use 18 seconds/100m or 72 (=68)second laps. Some efforts will extend to 800m and the total distance covered to 5000m. Later in the afternoon a long recovery run of 75 minutes, 22km for the day.

Yesterday an easy 3km. Today was back to normal. 18km for the day including 2km up Black Mountain at just under maximum threshold. I wouldn't expect to recover from the 10km fully until the weekend. Thursday will be the normal routine at Stromlo. Some easy strides and then see how I feel. Most of the others will take it easy this week. Steve, Jane and Keith all in lifetime best form (recent lifetime for Jane) just off base training plus a couple of races. In this next block not that much changes. It is a gentle progression. We start to add in some easy lactate sessions but more important we place more emphasis on pacing sessions (working off five paces rather than the 2-3 we have been training at). Steve and myself will work at 10km pace (3:20-3:30/km) and work down through 5km (3:10-3:15), 3km (3:05-3:10), 1500m (2:55-3:00) and 800m in 2:10 or better. There will be a mix of sessions, the same sessions we have used over the last 7 summers. We all have our different paces and goals...

Weather: Absolutely perfect. Cold, blue skies, zero wind. The course: Not exactly the same course that had been used for the last few decades due to adding in the 14km race. It is now 200m longer, another hill loop has been added with 1.3km to go and they added a stretch of grass and another annoying hill 200m from the finish instead of bike path, doesn't hug the lake curve, inland by 20-60m, held wide down Kings Avenue to avoid slower 14km runners. The winning time for the 10km and the first 3 places (including 1st) would be the slowest on record and they are all good runners and in form. Oh and the 14km runners are calling their race short. Race History: Deek holds the race record on the old course (pre-2013?) of 29:01 in 1990. Andrew Lloyd (my former landlord) ran 29:02. In similar conditions to this morning Brett Cartwright ran 29:21 in 2007 (when I wasn't even fit and ran 34:21). I can't verify the start and finish but the 1982 image up Adelaide Ave is true. Of the gi...

Steve and Jane this morning on bitumen did their 2000m tempo. Jane 7:14 (3:34, 3:40) compares to 7:37 last taper tempo. Steve 6:46 (3:21, 3:25) compares to 6:53 last taper tempo. Keith did his tempo at 85% effort. I'll be doing my session at Stromlo XC this afternoon...which I did in 6:34 (3:09,3:24). It was windy. My fastest time since April 2013 at AMA XC Championships crazy raced surging first lap chasing Darren Peacock (3:03,3:12) and my fastest in training this year by 3 seconds. That hill at 1.1km sure knocks the stuffing out of the splits.

All of us expected to line up for Canberra Times Fun Run. All of us have started our taper by reducing volume by about one-third (including session volume) and not letting up on intensity. Jane was first to report in: 4 x 1km (3:38, 3:31, 3:36, 3:29). That's an all-time best set for Jane and by the looks of it right on track for that 17:30 5000m this season. Keith next: 4 x 800m (2:35, 2:36, 2:40, 2:36) in the cold and wind. Another great set from Keith. Steve 4 x 3 minutes efforts (3:22/km, 3:22, 3:27, 3:22). It was windy and cold all day, a little rain or drizzle at times. Strong running from Steve in those conditions. For me it was too cold, wet and windy to head to track or Stromlo. Instead I ran 2.5km up Black Mountain just under maximum threshold on the way home from work...a 75 minute long run and 80 minutes yesterday at a much slower tempo. Made up for it with 2 x 1km both in 3:20 on run to work Wednesday. Still have planned a 2km tempo at 10km race pace on Thursday. Ev...